Symphony No. 9 (Mahler)

Dutch premiere: 2 May 1918, , with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Willem Mengelberg

UK premiere: 27 February 1930, with The Hallé conducted by Hamilton Harty^[14]

American premiere: 16 October 1931, , with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky^[15]

Japanese premiere: 16 April 1967, Tokyo, with the conducted by Kirill Kondrashin

I have once more played through Mahler's Ninth. The first movement is the most glorious he ever wrote. It expresses an extraordinary love of the earth, for Nature. The longing to live on it in peace, to enjoy it completely, to the very heart of one's being, before death comes, as irresistibly it does.  – ^[17][18]

It is music coming from another world, it is coming from eternity. – ^[19]

It is terrifying, and paralyzing, as the strands of sound disintegrate ... in ceasing, we lose it all. But in Mahler's ceasing, we have gained everything. – ^[20]

[Mahler's] Ninth is most strange. In it, the author hardly speaks as an individual any longer. It almost seems as though this work must have a concealed author who used Mahler merely as his spokesman, as his mouthpiece. – ^[21]

Mahler's Ninth Symphony is not about death, but about dying. Death and dying are two entirely different matters. While working on the Ninth, I realized that I know of no other language apart from German in which the words death (Tod) and dying (sterben) have entirely different etymologies. ... the finale is just one sole extended act of dying, the disintegration of life. The last section, particularly the last page in the orchestra score, describes that situation so perfectly that it surpasses any other depiction, whether it be in literature or the fine arts. – ^[22]

with the Vienna Philharmonic, 1938

with the Vienna Symphony, 1950

with the Vienna Symphony, 1952

with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, 1954

with the Südwestfunk Symphonie Orchester, Baden-Baden, 1957

with the New York Philharmonic, 1960

and the London Symphony Orchestra, 1960

with the Vienna Philharmonic, 1960

with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, 1962

with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1964

with the Moscow State Philharmonic, 1964

with the New York Philharmonic, 1965

with the London Symphony Orchestra, April, 1966

with the London Symphony Orchestra, September, 1966

with the Czech Philharmonic, 1966

and the New Philharmonia Orchestra, 1967.

with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1967

with the London Symphony Orchestra, 1967

with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, 1967

with the Cleveland Orchestra, 1968

with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 1969

with the Utah Symphony, 1969

with the Vienna Philharmonic, 1971

with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1976 (Grammy Award winner)

with the Sinfonica of London, 1978

with the Philadelphia Orchestra, 1979

with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, 1979

with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, 1979

with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1979 (Grammy Award winner)

with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, 1979

with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1979–80

with the Czech Philharmonic, 1982

with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1982 (Grammy Award winner)

with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1982 (Gramophone Record of the Year)

with the Vienna Philharmonic, 1984

with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 1985

with the New Japan Philharmonic, 1986

with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1986

with the Vienna Philharmonic, 1986

with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 1987

with the New York Philharmonic, 1988

with the Südwestfunk Symphonie Orchester, Baden-Baden, 1990

with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, 1990

with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, 1990

with the Kölner Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester, 1991

with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1991

with the Philharmonia Orchestra, 1992

with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, 1992

with the Vienna Philharmonic, 1993

with the European Community Youth Orchestra, 1993

with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1993

with the Philharmonia Orchestra, 1993

with the New York Philharmonic, 1994

with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, NAXOS 8.550535-36, 1994

with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1995 (Grammy Award winner)

with the Cleveland Orchestra, 1997

with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, 1997

with the Staatskapelle Dresden, 1997

with the Munich Philharmonic, 1999

with the Philharmonia Orchestra, 1999

with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1999

with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 2002

with the Südwestfunk Symphonie Orchester, Baden-Baden, 2003

with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 2004

with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, 2004

with the San Francisco Symphony, 2005

with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, 2006

with the Staatskapelle Berlin, 2006 (CD)

with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, 2006

with the Czech Philharmonic, 2007

with the Staatskapelle Berlin, 2007 (DVD)

with the Bamberg Symphony, 2008

with the Berlin Philharmonic, 2009

with the Philharmonia Orchestra, 2009

with the Norddeutscher Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Hamburg, 2009

with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, 2009

with the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, 2009

with the WDR Symphony Orchestra of Koln, 2009

with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, 2010

with the Saito Kinen Orchestra, 2010

with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, 2010^[24]

with the London Symphony Orchestra, 2011

with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, 2011

with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 2011 (DVD & Blu-ray)

with the Philharmonia Orchestra, 2011

with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, 2012

with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, 2013

with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, 2014

with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, 2014

with the Scottish Symphony Orchestra, 2014

with the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, Milan 2014

with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, 2014

with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, 2015

with the Hallé Orchestra, 2015

with the Düsseldorf Symphony, 2019

with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, 2019^[25]

with the Berlin Philharmonic, 2021

with the Minnesota Orchestra, 2023

Vernon, David (2022). Beauty and Sadness: Mahler's 11 Symphonies. Edinburgh: Candle Row Press.  978-1739659905.

at the Wayback Machine (archived 12 June 2008)